A jealous Bumble stalker falsely claimed that a man she had a one-night affair with was a drug user in order to conduct a vindictive smear campaign against him.
Irina-Alexandra Resteanu, a vengeful single mother, called Joseph Collins’ employers and falsely claimed he was doing drugs after he informed the 22-year-old he could not visit her for three weeks due to “work responsibilities.”
This summer, “Obsessive” Resteanu, who had only been on two dates with Mr. Collins, started a campaign of hatred against him by sending him 150 threatening snaps in only four days.
He phoned the police in the hopes that they would warn her off, but instead, she went to his electrical contractor colleagues and falsely claimed that he had used drugs before reporting for work. She then threatened to go to his old employers and repeat the slander.
Her retaliatory violence traumatized Mr. Collins, of Mobberley, near Knutsford, Cheshire, according to a statement he gave to police.
At the time of the event, he said, he had no idea how awful things would go. Others noted how rapidly I slipped into despair and experienced a severe mood decline.
I wasn’t being myself. I found it difficult to continue without talking and was concerned about how awful it might go.
I had trouble concentrating at work and on daily duties. My confidence and sense of humor started to wane.
It became all I could think about, I discovered. The worst thing was that the poor mood just became worse as the harassment and stalking intensified.
Every woman may become a “Queen bee” with Bumble.
In 2014, Whitney Wolfe Herd in Texas released the dating app with the support of Russian billionaire Andreey Andreev, the creator of the European online dating service Badoo.
With almost 45 million users globally, the network was well-liked by young people.
For heterosexual women wishing to meet a male, the app puts them in charge by letting them initiate contact.
However, any individual may initiate contact for same-sex couples wishing to connect.
I rapidly began to feel helpless and imprisoned. I was at a loss for what to do. I once thought that she might grow worse if I called the cops.
After just briefly getting to know Resteanu, Mr. Collins said he was concerned about what she was capable of and afraid that she may attempt to spoil his vacation or pick on his family.
He said, “I have no idea what is going through her head or how far she will carry it.” “This has really damaged my self-confidence, and I have trust difficulties.”
I’m going to find it difficult to connect romantically, at least until I get to know someone.
Resteanu, who claims to have attended the University of Cambridge and resides in Orford, Warrington, pleaded guilty to stalking at Warrington Magistrates’ Court and was given an 18-month community order with 80 hours of unpaid work.
According to Natatsha McAdam, the prosecutor, the couple first connected on Bumble and went on a date on July 2. A week later, they spent the night together at a hotel.
But Miss McAdam said that the stalker mother initiated a frenzied four-day campaign, contacting him “about 150 times” between July 15 and July 18, after Mr. Collins informed Resteanu he could not meet her until July 30, due to work.
The prosecution informed the court, “He reported it to the police.” The complainant asked them to caution the defendant rather than file a complaint at that time.
However, persistent Resteanu disregarded a police warning on July 20, according to Miss McAdam, and called Mr. Collins that evening “several times.”
The following day, when the vengeful single mother phoned Mr. Collins’ workplace to inform them that he used drugs, her campaign of hatred intensified.
Miss McAdam said, “He was astonished since he hadn’t informed her where he worked.”
The following day, she warned him that she would inform his previous employers of his drug usage if he called the police.
“Due to the defendant’s actions, he uninstalled the Bumble and Snapchat applications and thought about switching his phone number.”
He was concerned that the defendant might visit his residence after using Snapchat to determine where he resided.
Miss McAdam requested the courts for both a restraining order and compensation. Collins urged that the restraining order only forbid her from travelling to the hamlet of Mobberly, where she knows he resides, since she didn’t want Resteanu to know where he lived.
The prosecutor said, “That would give him a sense of security.”
Resteanu’s lawyer, Philip Green, said she was sorry and sought for credit for entering a speedy guilty plea at the first hearing.
There are no prior convictions listed against her, according to Mr. Green. “The event occurred over a brief period of time.” Miss Resteanu feels bad about how she behaved.
She is a single mother who is responsible for raising a kid alone. It is obvious that a circumstance where the parties met on a dating website existed, and it is also obvious that both parties desired different things from the relationship.
“It seems that the victim in this instance sought a transient connection, but Miss Resteanu was obviously seeking something more long-term.”
Resteanu was also mandated to pay a victim surcharge of £36 and pay £236 in costs in addition to completing 25 days of rehabilitation work. In accordance with the conditions of a restraining order, she was also forbidden from speaking to Mr. Collins for two years.
“Your behaviour was highly compulsive and had a significant effect on the victim in this case,” district judge Jack McGarva said to her. There won’t be any compensation since doing so would be unfair. It would include you keeping in touch with the complainant, which is against what he would like.